Trapped
by Maplestrike
Summary: Why must you suffer for trying to help? One shot for BlazeClan's Just a Phrase


**So this is my first story, a one shot for BlazeClan's challenge Just a Phrase. Please review and tell me what you think!**

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"Come on, Cloudstep. We're on the dawn patrol this morning, remember?" Blinking open his eyes, Cloudstep stretched in his nest and went out of the warrior's den. The sunlight weakly pushed through the cloud cover, warming the cold sand of the island. Iceflame was calling to him from next to Bluesky, who was organising the dawn patrol.

"Ah, Cloudstep. I thought you'd never come out," Bluesky called to him without turning around. "You're leading the dawn patrol with Iceflame, Flameclaw and Stormpaw. Check the border with CaveClan, there have been some reports of scent on our side of the border." Cloudstep waved for his patrol to follow him, then padded out of camp. Cloudstep sighed inwardly. He hated this part. Bracing himself for the shock, he waded out into the water, flinching at the cold. Cloudstep would rather that the BlazeClan camp wasn't on an island in the ocean, but there was no way he would join another clan just because he didn't like water. The rest of the patrol bounded ahead, splashing through the water without a care. They reached the far bank a long time before Cloudstep staggered out. Eyes lit with amusement, Iceflame stepped back and let Cloudstep go to the head of the patrol again before following.

As the dawn patrol reached the border with CaveClan, Cloudstep drew to a halt by the Fallen Palm, the longest single stretch of the border. Signalling with his tail for the patrol to wait, he carefully sniffed all around the border for the slightest scent of CaveClan that had crossed the border. Satisfied that there was no scent, he began to mark the Fallen Palm and signalled for the patrol to follow suit. Stormpaw eagerly trotted up to the border and left a strong mark on the palm leaves. To Cloudstep's annoyance, she then jumped up onto the trunk of the tree and began jumping up and down on it, trying to see over the rough caves of CaveClan territory.

"Stormpaw, come down from there at once! The whole of CaveClan can probably see you up there!" But before Stormpaw could complain, she suddenly plummeted down off the Fallen Palm, into CaveClan's territory.

"HELP!" she yowled. Sighing, Cloudstep called back, "I'm coming, just don't move!" He clambered over the tree trunk and looked down on Stormpaw. She had her leg stuck between a precarious pile of rubble and the outside of a cave wall.

"I'm going to climb down the trunk and jump onto the top of the cave," he called to the patrol. "Can you throw me a tree branch that Stormpaw can grab onto?" Without waiting for an answer, he slid down the Fallen Palm trunk and bunched his muscles. He made a flying leap and just managed to dig his claws into a niche in the rock. Pulling himself up onto the roof of the cave, Cloudstep waited for the patrol to throw him a tree branch. Then he called down to Stormpaw again.

"I'm going to poke this branch to you, just grab on as hard as you can and we'll pull you out." Hoping he was strong enough to pull her out, he lowered the branch into the gap and waited until he felt the weight of Stormpaw on the end. Then he fastened his teeth into the branch and began to pull. He struggled to move back each paw step, until suddenly the ground disappeared from under his paws and he plummeted down off the cave top until he hit another rockpile with a crack. He was vaguely aware of Stormpaw's yowl as she fell back onto the other rockpile. He could just hear the patrol. He waited whilst they rescued Stormpaw, then heard them as they tried to find him. His paws were too little to shift enough rock to get out of the rockpile that had collapsed onto him. Straining his ears, he listened in horror as the patrol pelted away. Where were they going? Were they going to come back? Suddenly Cloudstep hissed in pain. Agony coursed through his back legs. he thought he might have broken them.

The air seemed to leave his lungs, but no more managed to get back in. The rocks were packed around him more tightly than he had thought, and there was a particularly large one crushing his chest. Slowly, his vision dimmed and the world seemed to flicker and dim.

Cloudstep clawed desperately at the hard stone surrounding him. How would he ever be able to get out of here?

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**Just in case you hadn't twigged, Cloudstep does die from his injuries while still stuck in the rocks. **


End file.
